People commonly used safety deposit boxes and safes to store a variety of items in a remote location. Typically, safety deposit box rental is among the services offered by banks and other secure facilities to customers that need a private and secure place for storing items such as documents, e.g., passports, wills deeds, etc.; jewelry; financial goods (e.g., cash, precious metals, investment certificates etc.), memorabilia, e.g., photographs, programs, newspaper articles, and the like. The process of obtaining a safety deposit box generally involves selecting a service provider that offers a safety deposit box rental service, determining the necessary amount of storage required, and entering into a service contract (for example, a lease agreement). To use a safety deposit box, a customer generally travels to the physical location of the safety deposit box, places selected items in the safety deposit box, locks the box, and keeps the key for future access to the safety deposit box. Generally, the service provider has no knowledge of or access to the contents of the safety deposit box.
The conventional rental of storage space and/or requirement to physically access a storage location to place items into storage can become a time consuming and inconvenient process. Additionally, customers are generally responsible for ensuring that keys to the safety deposit box are maintained in a secure place. Furthermore, remote access to the contents or list of items in the box is typically not possible. For example, customers cannot typically inventory, view or otherwise remotely access any of the items stored in a safety deposit box, especially if the items are physically remote from the customer. Furthermore, access to the contents of the box can often be limited to the business hours of the service provider.
In a further aspect, services related to the stored items in the safety deposit box can be limited. Typically, a customer has to physically go to the box, open the box with the key, access the item for the performance of the related service. For example, to copy a document, such as a passport, a customer generally has to physically remove the document from the safety deposit box, take the document to a copy machine, and then return the document to the safety deposit box. Additionally, because the service provider may not be aware of the nature of the stored items, the service provider cannot suggest or offer enhanced service specifically related to aspects of the stored items.